


Picture Perfect

by Violent_Bulldog



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: <- it's not mentioned exactly but it's implied, Abusive Parents, Angst, Anxiety, Bad Parents, Bisexual Chloe Valentine, Chloe Valentine Has Feelings, Chloe Valentine isn't okay, Comfort/Angst, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Idk what the summery is just deal with it, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Jake Dillinger & Chloe Valentine Friendship, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Other, Protective Jake Dillinger, Soft Jake Dillinger, lol idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 09:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24847870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violent_Bulldog/pseuds/Violent_Bulldog
Summary: All was not well in the halls of Middleborough High School
Relationships: Brooke Lohst/Chloe Valentine, Jake Dillinger & Chloe Valentine, Jake Dillinger/Rich Goranski, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	Picture Perfect

When play rehearsal ended, almost everyone quickly left and headed for their lockers, chatting on the way. Jake was about to leave the room and follow them all until he saw Chloe, who was still sitting in her chair and scribbling something on her script. She didn't seem to notice that everyone had already left. Jake told the others that he'd be a few minutes as they all went to their lockers.

Jake stood by the door and watched her actions for a few moments. Her foot was tapping as she wrote on her script and whenever she paused, she'd bring her pen to her mouth and chew on the cap. Whatever she was scribbling didn't look like it was any stage direction changes or additions to her lines. In fact, Jake was sure that she was using the blank back page of the script to write whatever it was. He frowned as he watched his friend, before approaching slowly, as to not startle her, and slumping down in the chair next to her. 

Chloe closed her script quickly before looking towards Jake, furrowing her eyebrows. Jake gestured to the empty room, a small smile on his face.

"You planning on staying the night or...?" He teased, but his smile fell when he noticed Chloe's glare at him.

"Chlo, what's up? You seem more..." He paused as he tried to find the right word. 

"Bitchy?" She muttered, scowling before slumping back in her seat and crossing her arms. 

"I was gonna say irritated" Jake replied softly, turning so he was sitting on his chair side-ways and was facing Chloe fully. He noticed that she was still tapping her foot.

"Just... not having a good day. That good enough for you?" She avoided looking at him, chewing her thumbnail.

"You seem to be having a lot of those lately" Jake kept his voice soft. He didn't want to piss her off or make her freak, but he had a feeling that this conversation was necessary. And it was true. Chloe had become a lot quieter over the last few weeks. Jake had ended up taking mental notes of her actions because he was concerned. He knew that she was always under a lot of pressure from her parents to keep her grades high but to also be popular and respected. 

She'd been snapping at people a lot more than usual, including their friend group. She'd apologise to them afterwards, but still, it was worrisome. She couldn't sit still either. Her foot was always tapping or her fingers were drumming on her desk or she was biting either her nails or her pen. She looked exhausted most days and had ended up getting sent home a few days because she'd been found throwing up in the bathroom. None of the others really seemed to notice, but Jake did. He was pretty sure that Brooke noticed too because she often sent Chloe worried looks.

"Well, life is really shitty, so most days are bad fucking days, okay?" She didn't sound like the Chloe Jake knew. She sounded so tired of everything.

"How so?" He pried carefully. This could either go well or very, very badly.

"Cause my parents fucking suck and they keep saying how much I disappoint them and how I fucked up during the last play when we all got Squipped, even though we all ended up in the fucking hospital and I think that I like girls and I know that they'd try to send me to some type of conversion church camp thingy if I told them and I don't know what I'm meant to do to make them like me and I keep getting super stressed out and I can't do my homework or focus in class, so my grades are falling and I know that that will make them even more angry at me and I just really don't want to be alive and dealing with anything anymore" She ranted, before hiding her face in her hands and sighing. Jake sat stunned for a second, processing everything that he'd just heard.

"Chlo-" He gently placed his hand on her upper arm, only for her to quickly flinch back. Jake furrowed his eyebrows for a second before his eyes widened. Chloe saw the realisation on his face and quickly stood up, moving away from him.

"Chloe... do you hurt yourself?" She hated how soft his voice was. How kind and genuinely caring it was. She stayed facing away from him and ignored the burning feeling in her chest. 

"I'm not gonna judge you if you do. But, I want you to know that I'm always gonna be here for you. And so will the others. We all care about you, okay? I promise. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I think you need to talk to a professional about this. You've got a lot of symptoms of anxiety and depression and, if you are hurting yourself, then we'd all rather you get help than let it get worse and maybe lead to... to it getting too much for you to deal with and you end up doing something that you can't take back. And I know you're gonna say something about how other people will treat you, but your health is so much more important than how people think of you. And anyway, if someone did say something to you, I'd beat them up" Jake had stood up while he was talking, slowly making his way towards Chloe, but kept far enough back, just to be cautious. 

He hadn't been expecting for Chloe to turn around and hug him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. He immediately held her tightly, rubbing her back gently.

"You bottle everything up. It's okay to let go" He whispered. It was easy to think that the 'popular kids' had perfect lives, but that was far from true. Especially at their stupid school. 

"When did you get wise, Jakey?" Chloe murmured after a few moments, muffled by her position. Jake chuckled softly.

"Rich made me watch some movies about wise wizards" He replied, smiling when he felt Chloe laugh. She slowly pulled out of the embrace, wiping away some of her newly-smudged makeup and rolling her eyes when she saw the black smug on her hand. 

"Want a ride home?" Jake offered, fishing his car keys out of a slot in his bag. Chloe gave him a genuinely thankful smile in return.

"Thank you, Jake" Her voice was small. It was unusual and, frankly, a bit worrying, but after the conversation that they had just had, it made sense.

"For... remembering my keys?" Jake furrowed his eyebrows. Chloe scoffed softly before bumping her shoulder with his. 

"For talking to me. For listening and... y'know, caring and shit" She muttered, avoiding eye contact.

"Anytime Chlo. Like I said, I'll always be here for you"

**Author's Note:**

> Me vs bullshitting an ending


End file.
